Recruiting business

[ilbegone]

Perhaps this is what needs to be done.

The City of Beaumont Ca is doing something similar, (I'll see if I can look that up and attach) it's been quite successful over the last couple of years while the neighboring city of Banning seems to be doing everything it can to drive off business - and it shows in the contrasts between the two cities.

Office will help recruit businesses

By San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris

10/21/2010

During the last several years, San Bernardino has been working hard to overcome a reputation as being a city famous for all the wrong reasons. It is difficult to erase that negative image because people often remember the bad more than the good.

The reality is San Bernardino has many attractions for growing businesses.

We have affordable real estate, we are centrally located near most of the major freeways in Southern California, and we have a railroad yard that connects us to the rest of the nation.

Like many other cities, we find it challenging to attract businesses to relocate here unless they know what we have to offer. Realizing that San Bernardino needs to have an aggressive presence recruiting new business, the city has decided to launch the Economic Development Agency, Office of Business Development (OBD).

The goal of the Office of Business Development is to not only recruit new businesses to locate to San Bernardino, but also to inform them about the various incentives and funding opportunities that are available, such as the San Bernardino Valley Enterprise Zone state tax credits, Brownfield grants, Workforce Investment Act training funds, Grow San Bernardino Fund loans and the fa ade improvement program.

The Office of Business Development will also help businesses fast-track permits, cut through red tape and serve as a central location for information about available commercial and industrial property in the city.

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy and that is why they are critical to San Bernardino's economy. According to the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, small businesses pay 45 percent of total U.S. private payroll and have annually generated 60 percent to 80 percent of net new jobs during the last decade. Many of these small- to mid-sized businesses do not have large operating staffs. They don't have an employee whose sole job is to scout out new sites and make sure the transition to the new location goes smoothly. They often need all the help they can get, which is where the Office of Business Development plans to jump in.

We want the Office of Business Development to be an advocate and support system for small businesses that are looking at making the city of San Bernardino their new home. Economic development is the way to improve the city's fortunes. More businesses yield more development, which means empty lots get converted into business parks, companies employ local workers, and the city and the county's tax revenues go up.

Increased revenue means that we can spend more on improving the city's infrastructure. High-paying jobs also have a trickle-down effect on the local economy as workers spend money on consumer products, food, entertainment and housing. Local merchants benefit from workers with more disposable income.

New businesses mean more good-paying jobs, more redevelopment and more tax revenue. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Pat Morris is mayor of San Bernardino.

http://www.sbsun.com/pointofview/ci_16401615

[ilbegone]

I spoke with the former Mayor of Beaumont, Ca some time ago, the city gives breaks and incentives to people who hire local vendors as well as give breaks to businesses who hire locals, as well as other incentives. I would have to spend some time recalling more specifics of the conversation, but here is the article I looked up:

Beaumont seeks second stimulus for city

October 21, 2010

By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
The Press-Enterprise

Hoping to convince landowners and developers that they'd be better off building structures for industry types instead of future residents, the city of Beaumont has approved a plan to create two zones offering discounts to builders for at least the next three years.

This most recent "stimulus" proposal follows the city's first effort to boost its own economy by offering a break to residential developers. Passed in February 2009, that stimulus cut development fees by 30 percent. Beaumont ultimately issued more single-family home building permits in 2009 than any other city in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The new effort aims to bring major employers to the city, said Dave Dillon, the city's contracted economic development adviser.

Those building in the industrial and commercial zones of Beaumont could see another 20 percent lopped off development impact mitigation and building permit fees.

Developers who switch to building businesses rather than bedrooms in those zones would also bypass the processing fees for land-use entitlements and development agreements, a savings of $30,000 to $50,000 in some cases, Dillon said. The projects could also gain necessary approvals more swiftly than other developments, and benefit from the forthcoming Potrero Boulevard overpass which would give industrial users better access to Interstate 10 and Highway 60, Dillon said.

Richard Bennecke, a candidate for Beaumont's City Council, said this most recent stimulus effort was laudable. Nonetheless, he said he thought the city should be mum about the incentives, using it as a negotiating tool rather than offer them out in the open to everyone.

Dillon said the discount in developer fees for three years shouldn't affect funding for infrastructure improvements "We've already got some money in the bank," Dillon said, adding that WinCo will be paying $1.4 million in fees as soon as the company pulls its building permit for a proposed distribution center.

The discount to developers will hopefully kick-start the next wave of development in the city, he said.

A 1,175-acre stretch southwest of Interstate 10 would be focused on industrial development near where grocer WinCo Foods LLC has bought land to build a 2 million-square-foot distribution center. WinCo's property is not included in the zone's boundaries. The zone would also cover a portion of land just outside the city's boundaries that officials have sought to annex.

A patchwork collection of 233 acres east of Highway 79 between Potrero Boulevard and Sixth Street would offer incentives to builders proposing commercial development on vacant land near a shopping center where a Kohl's, Best Buy, Walmart and Home Depot have already been built.

The city won't be approving physical zoning changes in those areas just yet. Some parcels are currently reserved for residential uses. Dillon said the incentives are a precursor to eventual zoning changes that would hopefully inspire developers to reshape their projects with an industrial and commercial focus. http://www.pe.com/business/local/sto...9.1ead8a7.html

The link has a map showing industrial and commercial zones.